“A teenager whose skill at genealogical research made him something of a local celebrity died Thursday of burns he suffered in a house explosion on Wednesday (August 3, 2006).
Coady Hatlen, 15, is being mourned not only by his natural family, but by a second family, the staff at the Carlinville Public Library.
“He was the third person to die as the result of the explosion on Wednesday morning that leveled a house at 203 Sue Street in Carlinville, caused a fire that destroyed a house next door and shattered windows as far as four blocks away…
”Coady spent hours each week at the library, doing his own research and responding – on a volunteer basis – to the requests the library gets for help in researching family histories.”
